NSFJ: The Great Wall

Disclaimer:  What you are about to read may be slightly melodramatic.

On Saturday October 22nd, tragedy struck the Martin household in the form of a cocoa-colored sectional.  I debated not sharing this little tidbit at all as it scarred me so deeply.  However, with the passage of time has come some healing (and a lot of laughing).  So, I suppose in the interest of entertaining my future self I will go ahead and document "the incident."

As you may recall, Ryan and I sacrificed life and limb time, energy and newlywed kindness to find ourselves a chaise-less sectional.  Back in early September the quest for said living room staple was finally complete.  Our order was placed and we waited anxiously for the day that this apex would find its home in our home.  In late October we found out that the sectional was available and would be delivered on October 22nd.  Ryan & I were so excited we woke up early, made breakfast and waited in great anticipation. 

I mean this level of excitement.  (How cute is this kid?!  Photo from howismyface.com)

Mid morning the furniture delivery people showed up, perfectly within their slated delivery window.  I stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room watching like a child on Christmas morning as they brought in the first piece (the love seat) of the sectional.  As they removed the protective plastic coating my first thought was- paint chip samples are liars!  My beloved Harmonic Tan was certainly not doing any favors for the Cocoa in the couch.  On the showroom floor the colors looked like Rob & Big - a perfect pairing that delights all ages; however in my living room it was more like Britney & Kevin - a hot mess from the get go. 

As I cursed the deceptive abilities of Sherwin Williams, I realized I'd been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't pay attention to the fact that the second piece was now in place.  I allowed myself to have a positive thought - glad we got the wedge.  While mentally high fiving myself for trying to channel the power of positivity, the third piece (the sofa) was put in place.  I am no Physicist, but I recognized immediately that something was amiss. 

At first I figured that I should probably have put some make up on because surely we were on some type of reality show.  Why else would this be happening?  However, as Ryan, the furniture delivery men and I all sat there scratching our heads, it became painfully evident that this was indeed real life.  The delivery men must have been able to tell that we were not emotionally stable enough to handle more bad news, so they left us with the incorrect piece. 

What is wrong with this picture?  Aside from the multitude of A&M throws?  Looking at this picture stresses me out all over again.

After they left, I handled the situation like any real adult would - I went and got in my bed and hoped that the Furniture Fairy would make all right in our little living room world before I saw it again.  As I laid there I contemplated the probability that Ryan (who was on the phone with the furniture salesman) would immediately ask for a divorce if I uttered outloud that the colors really didn't work.  Afterall, I had already played one re-re-paint card on the kitchen.  How many does one woman get?! 

What?  You need another angle?  (P.S. Lola has moved out of her room and into the living room.  One day, God-willing, that crate will be gone)

I must have decided either that he wouldn't or that I could talk him out of it because when he asked where I was 20 minutes later I told him that the colors didn't work.  New-age Marco Polo.  Marco = Where are you.  Polo = The sofa looks terrible with our paint color.  While he was not too excited about that fact at first, he eventually agreed.  We figured out a solution that will hopefully be cost-effective. We are going to pull a little switcharoo and change the entry way from Cottage Cream to Harmonic Tan and change the living room from Harmonic Tan to Cottage Cream. 

This is mas o menos the face that the mention of re-painting elicited from Ryan.  As you can imagine, it wasn't really a Kodak moment, so I dug this up from the archives for visualization purposes.  (Visualize without the blonde hair though- yikes).

Hopefully a happy ending to this situation is coming to a living room near you (if you live near me anyway) in December.  Fingers crossed for everyone's sanity!